Summary
Gab Marcotti, Mark Ogden and Julien Laurens answer some of our burning questions from this round. The 2023-24 Champions League quarterfinals are all wrapped up with plenty of drama. In the semifinals, we'll see PSG face Dortmund and Madrid take on Bayern. Messi was the wrong player at the wrong time for PSG and his two years at the club were like a spectacular firework fizzling out. But without him, and the over-hyped Neymar, PSG have taken a different path by turning to young, hungry talent under the guidance of Luis Enrique. Having a side based around Neymar and Messi and Mbappe up front means the rest of the team is just going to do their running for them. Ronald Araujo was sent off in Barcelona's 4-1 loss to PSG in the Champions League. Xavi called the referee a "disaster" after Barca's loss. Was he right? What was disastrous was Barcelona's defending. Ilkay Gündogan gave a more balanced and fair assessment of the referee's performance than Xavi's. Xavi was clearly emotional after a bad night for his team, but the referee was right to send the coach off. Barcelona only have themselves to blame for their defeat; PSG took full advantage of their mistakes. Fede Valverde's goal for Real Madrid in the 3-3 draw against Manchester City in the quarterfinal first leg was the pick of a stunning batch of goals. Josko Gvardiol's goal in the same game for Man City vs. Real Madrid was also the pick. Arsenal's defeat to Bayern Munich all but ends the Premier League's hopes of an extra Champions League spot. The bigger question is why the self-styled "best league in the world" can't get a team into the Champions League semifinals. It is only the second season since 2016-17 that there will be no English clubs in the Champions League semifinals. The fact that there are none this year should not be seen as the start of the decline of the English top flight. With an intense title race, minds and bodies are drained physically and it makes it harder to compete in both competitions.
